Internet crackdown in Iran continues, but Tor users are all back online

Tor usage in Iran has made a full recovery days after the Iranian government …

Tor usage in Iran has made a full recovery days after the Iranian government started blocking encrypted Internet traffic.

Last Friday, the number of Iranian users connecting to the Internet through Tor's anonymizing network had plummeted from roughly 50,000 per day to nearly zero. By Sunday, however, Tor usage was back to normal and expected usage levels, according to updated metrics provided by the Tor Project.

In response to Iranian censorship, Tor Project leaders rolled out a new obfuscated bridge that allows Iranians to circumvent the blockages and connect to the Internet through Tor once again. It's unclear if the recovery in Internet connections is due primarily to steps taken by Tor and its users, but the government's latest censorship program does not appear to have ended.

Reuters wrote on Tuesday that "millions of Iranians have suffered serious disruption recently in accessing e-mail and Internet social networking sites, raising concerns authorities are stepping up censorship of opposition supporters ahead of parliamentary elections next month." Parliamentary elections are scheduled for March 2. Additionally, Google confirmed to Bloomberg on Monday that its services, including search, Gmail, and YouTube, had been blocked in Iran since Friday. We've asked Google for an update on the situation and will provide more details as we get them.